


One Final Year

by TheSerpentQueen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-01-20 14:52:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18527299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSerpentQueen/pseuds/TheSerpentQueen
Summary: Hermione's in her final year at Hogwarts...again. when she decided to snoop into Borgin and Burkes' to see what items she could find that may come in handy for her Defense Against The Dark Arts studies, she stumbled upon a silver and grey book, only to develop an unhealthy obsession for the girl within the pages...





	1. What Are You Going To Do Now?

 

**-One Final Year-**

**Chapter One**

**‘What Are You Going To Do Now?’**

  When the dust from the battle of Hogwarts had settled, and families had mourned their losses, the great castle was left in a complete state of ruin. It was always Minerva McGonagall’s plan to rebuild the castle and open it to the public wizarding world. She attended herself, played quidditch for the Gryffindor house, and she played well. She had made bonds there in her childhood that even the gruesomeness of recent events couldn’t tarnish. Yes, she wanted Hogwarts up and running again, and that is exactly what she did.

  Hogwarts was up and running and now nearing the end of its first year back in action, and as summer broke over the rebuilt Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, and the students, including those who had chosen to return to finish the year that was cruelly stolen from them by the death eaters during the battle of Hogwarts, could be found sat at the edge of the black lake on the grass of the castle fields, or sat high up in the quidditch stands, all with their heads stuck deep into books on their exam subjects.

  One of these returning students was the bright Hermione Granger, the brightest witch to attend the school in years, and of muggleborn status, no less. She had a pile of books at tall as an average house elf beside her as she took refuge from the sun under one of the bigger trees on the grounds, her hair was bigger and bushier than usual, and she could feel herself becoming more stressed with every page she turned. She would never admit to Harry and Ron (who insisted they would ‘get around’ to going back to Hogwarts) that the stress of all her subjects were getting to her. She missed her friends dearly over the past few months, walking the corridors alone reminded her of her terrible time in her first year, Hermione had never been popular, but to go back to having no friends, nobody to just talk to, nobody to sit with in the great hall, it had been harder than she anticipated.

  The other Gryffindors began to avoid her after realising she wasn’t much interested in pulling pranks on teachers or having fun in Hogsmeade. She came back to Hogwarts for one reason, to finish her academics. But if her friends could see her now, she thought. She could hear their voices in her head already. ‘Take a break’ Harry would say ‘you can’t revise on a full head and empty stomach, lets go to the three broomsticks and take your mind off it’. Yes, that would be Harry’s reaction, deal with it later. Ronald, on the other hand, would head straight into telling her he told her so ‘I told you, you’re taking too many subjects, you’re not a machine!’ she smiled at the thought of her best friends voices

“Hey there, Mudblood” a voice, that wasn’t so welcome, had just broken Hermione’s train of thought. Hermione Granger’s blood boiled, she could hear the rush of her heart in her own ears and she fought hard to not look up from her book and glare at him, as this only made him more eager to put her down.

  Why did he have to be here? She thought, why does he even want his N.E.W.T’s? was he even smart enough for N.E.W.T’s? Draco Malfoy? Top of his class at anything? The thought was laughable to Hermione.

“Too busy to talk are we?” Draco sneered again impatiently. Hermione closed her eyes and slammed her book shut with a loud thud and set it down on top of the pile next to her, making it wobble and threaten to fall over.

“What the fuck do you want Malfoy?” she growled, through gritted teeth.

“I was just wondering what you’re doing with yourself these days” he laughed “Weasley and Saint Potter aren’t around, so you’re back to having no friends again” he paused to make sure Hermione felt the full effects of his words, as he knew how deeply they cut “I was just wondering who you’re going to boss around now tha-” Hermione, without thinkinking, had launched a book straight at his head, it was a big book too. He stumbled for a brief second before completely toppling over onto the floor.

“I’m going to do the same thing I’ve done all year Malfoy! Get higher marks than  _you_! And everyone else at this school!” she didn’t mean to sound so obnoxious, but it was coming out now and she couldn’t stop it “  _Mudblood this, Mudblood that!_ Who are you trying to impress?!” she shouted, feeling her face get redder and redder, she gained on Malfoy, towering over the pale, blonde boy, who looked very small now from where he lay on the ground, in a mess of grass and mud “none of your goons came back to school, I mean, you know, the ones that survived” she paused to let him remember how he was on the losing side “Tell me,  _Death Eater_ , what are  _YOU_ going to do with yourself now that everybody here hates you? They don’t fear you Draco, They hate you, you tried to kill their Hero” she stopped to remember Dumbledore, and how Malfoy had planned and schemed all year to kill him “…you’re never coming back from this…and I feel sorry for you” she gave him one last look and walked towards the castle “Keep the books” she shouted back without looking “Educate yourself, you fucking disgrace!”

  Hermione stayed livid all day. She sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table during dinner close to the large, grand doors, but instead of having her nose buried in a breezeblock-sized book as per usual, she instead had a small, shimmering, silver book opened up in front of her and a small pot of light blue ink, which she was dipping a quill in and out of quickly between scribbles and scrawls on the pages. The book was easily the smallest book Hermione had owned in years, and probably the prettiest too, it was a plain grey along the bottom, that seemed to flame up into a brilliant shining silver towards the top of the cover that glittered as hermione turned the pages. It was a diary. The ink she was using was so light, that as she wrote, the tiny, pale blue words seemed to melt into the white pages. She didn’t believe she would have made it through the year without this book to express her feelings into, and that’s exactly what she did, she poured her angry feelings into her diary. All through dinner and all through desert.

  As usual, nobody tried to speak to Hermione, but this was as she liked it. She was perfectly happy to be ignored by everyone. It meant she wouldn’t feel so bad for ignoring them. She sat quietly stewing, quietly writing and quietly finishing her slice of apple pie until she’d had enough of the white noise of the great hall and snapped her small, glittering diary shut, although not half as sharply as the one she had thrown at Draco Malfoy, and slipped it into her bag. She carried herself up to the gryffindor tower and up into her dormitory. As there were no other girls in her age group attending that year, she got the whole dorm to herself, which pleased Hermione to no end.

  Hermione dropped her book bag onto her desk and untied her robes to hang them on the back of her desk chair. Being alone in the dorms, she had a lot more space and a lot more privacy. Bringing her hand up to the back of her neck, she pressed onto the top of her spine and rolled her fingers around in small circles, easing tension every time she did so. Enjoying the feeling she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She could feel the dehydrated sting of her soft brown eyes behind her eyelids, and realised all at once, after a day full of revising, running errands to help the professors, and lugging books around all day, then throwing them at Malfoy, along with a piece of her mind, she was completely and utterly shattered. She brought her hand from the back of her neck and ran it across her forehead, then rubbed her still shut eyes. One final deep breath before she went off in hunt of some comfortable pyjamas to wear.

  As she bussled through trunks and draws, she thanked merlin, again, for all the wardrobe and storage space she had been given this year at Hogwarts. She finally settled on a red and golden set of shorts and a white vest top sporting their house mascot, a stunningly proud lion, fiery orange and red against the white background.

  She sat at the end of her four poster bed and rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. She looked around the empty room, breathing in the welcoming smell and smiling.

  She stretched her arms out at the sides and then above her head. She let her body drop down onto her soft, feather filled quilt and arched her back to stretch that too. Then she rolled over onto her side and looked up at the darkening summer sky. It wasn’t late, yet she felt exhausted. She rolled her shoulders around in circles, snuggling herself further into the soft blankets. With one last glance through the window, and watching two owls dart into view and quickly out of sight again, Hermione closed her eyes and let herself sink into a relaxed state. She let the feelings of hatred towards draco evaporate above her like a cloud of smoke dissapaiting into the air around her. Just as she was starting to drop off, her eyes sprang open. She’d forgotten to say goodnight to someone. Someone very important.

   She sat straight up in bed, and blinked a few times to regain her full sight. It had gotten dark quick in the short time her eyes had been shut, so she felt her way over to her bag, that was still in a heap on her desk, and reached inside the side pocket to take out her wand

“Lumos” she muttered. The tip of her wand glowed white and luminous, lighting up the entire dormitory. She propped it up against a pile of books she had permanently on her desk and brought a pillow over from one of the untouched beds to make her desk chair a little more comfortable before she sat down. She pulled the top of her bag open and pulled out her diary. The same silver and grey diary she had been writing in at dinner in the great hall. She pulled out her blue ink and her small quill, then closed her bag and hung it on the back of her chair with her robes.

  Hermione ran her fingers down the spine of the book, from bottom to top. It felt rougher in texture the further up she went, as the book’s cover seemed to get brighter and a more intense shine, it felt almost scorched and burned. But it probably was. Hermione wasn’t the only person who’s hands this book had fallen into. Hermione imagined for a moment how many people had tried to burn it, or shred it to pieces. Because Hermione’s diary was no ordinary diary, infact, it wasn’t even Hermione’s diary. It belonged to Astrid Avery, many many years ago, before she died, of course, in a botched attempt to make more than one horcrux. Now the only way she could talk to anybody was if they were lucky (or unlucky) enough to pick up her diary and find a secret part of her soul hidden within the pages. Hermione uncapped her ink bottle, dipped her quill in and began to write…  
“Good evening, Astrid” she wrote, and watched the tiny, blue words disappear into the page. Less than 10 seconds had passed before a silver message in swooping handwriting slithered onto the page.

“Well hello there, Hermione” and below this message, the book began to form another sentence in delicate silvery lines. “I do hope you’re feeling better” Hermione took in another deep breath and began to dip and dab her quill all over the place as she began to write back to the only person who had truly been there for her all year.


	2. Hermione Granger And Astrid Avery

**Chapter Two** **  
** **Hermione Granger and Astrid Avery**

 

  Hermione vented into the diary, about how much she hated being alone, and how she hated that she seemed to be the only one who took school seriously anymore, but mostly about how much she hated Malfoy.

“I know i shouldn’t let him bother me” Hermione wrote, after explaining her outburst from earlier that day. ‘He really makes my blood boil, why does he have to act like this?’ she wrote, rhetorically, more than anything. But an answer came back nonetheless   
“When i was a little girl, I was always told…” the book spun its silver handwriting across the like tiny spiderwebs “that if a boy pulled your pigtails or tripped you up in school, that they actually like you and don’t know how to express it” Hermione’s eyes widened and she scoffed.    
“Oh yeah” she wrote back, laughing “I’m sure he’d love to sweep this mudblood right off her feet” she wrote back, feeling silly for even thinking it.   
“You’d be surprised what slytherin boys are into… not that half of them would admit to it” the book wrote back. Astrid Avery had been a Slytherin when she attended hogwarts years ago. When Hermione first made contact with her, she had done extensive research in the library to find out exactly who she was speaking to. She'd managed to find a book in the library with previous student records and found a face to put to the words that were writing to her. It didn't take Hermione long to track down a photo of her new friend. Towards the back of the thick book, under the title ‘Slytherin's of ‘72’ among other students, a small photo of Astrid, blinking up and flashing a cunning grin. 

  Astrid was a slim girl with shocking white hair that flowed to her elbows and deep, blue, piercing eyes. Her smile made her pretty to look at and gave her an inviting glow. It made Hermione a lot more comfortable, when she spoke to her, to picture the grinning Slytherin girl from the book in the library. Even if she was a Slytherin, and even if she was long since dead, she had been Hermione's only real friend all year. 

Hermione stared at the diary, squinting. The sky outside was really black now, and her eyes were heavy. How long had she been talking to Astrid? What time was it? 

“Have you fallen asleep on me, Hermione?” another message came across the pages before her barely open eyes. She rubbed them and picked up her quill

“no, I'm here” she wrote, and glanced back at the dark night sky “but I should get some sleep now, it's late” she added, and watched the words fading into the page before her. 

“go ahead, get some sleep, and don't forget what I said about that Draco boy, there's often more than one side to a story” Hermione screwed her nose up as the words on the page. Draco was an awful person, that's the only side she cared enough for him to see, but she was too tired to continue rambling on about him, she had already been up for hours telling Astrid how she would have loved to push him into the great lake and let the mermaids and giant squid have him, or attach him to a bewitched broomstick heading for the whomping willow.

“Goodnight, Astrid”

“Goodnight, Hermione” with one final message, that melted away as gracefully as it had appeared, Hermione closed the book and placed it on top of the pile of books that her wand was leaving up against. She picked up her wand and walked back over to her bed. 

“nox” she muttered, as she pulled back the quilt. She placed her wand on her bedside table and climbed into bed. 

  She didn't find it as easy to drop of as she  nearly had before she'd started speaking to Astrid. Every time she closed her eyes, the events of the day flashed in her mind. She thought of all the books she had wasted for the sake of a few digs at Malfoy, which was very unlike her, and how he had called her a mudblood, it didn't hurt, but she was astounded by his ignorance to the change in the wizarding world. How could Astrid actually think he fancied her? He wasn't teasing her because he liked her, he teased her because he's evil, pure evil, Hermione had no doubt about that. She rolled over and pulled the covers way above her shoulders and tugged them tight around her. The thought back to the summer in the burrow, where she hadn't been lonely and depressed. Whenever she found it hard to sleep she would sneak over to Ronald's room for a comfortable cuddle, which more than often turned into nights passionate embraces and hot sex. 

  She smiled and turned in her bed again, remembering her summer fling with the ginger of her dreams. She brought her hands up to her chest, searching for her left nipple. Her grin widened as she found what she was looking for. She tugged and twisted playfully, feeling tightness and clenching somewhere below, and imagined Ron’s strong hands getting tangled in her brown, messy curls. She pictured the way he would clench his fist to pull her hair and lean her face upwards while he ran his tongue and gentle kisses down her neck and chest. She gave her nipple one last tug before tracing her fingers downwards, in the same motion her lover would. She reached the spot between her legs and her eyes flew open upon feeling how wet she had gotten just from a bit of nipple-play and she giggled, looking around the empty dark room. If her ex roommates could see the golden girl hermione with her fingers on her own pussy, what would they say? She relished the thought, she was an academic before anything else, but she had to admit the idea of being a bad girl in another life had always appealed to her. Hard to pay attention in school and be a badass at the same time,so she settled for the first option and became the good girl everybody knew her as. But here she was, throwing books at the school bully and playing with herself and picturing her old roommates mortified faces had they been there. She felt like she took more of Astrid's personality every day. Quite literally taking leaves out of her book and giving less fucks. Astrid Avery was the giver of the type of advice hermione had never known she'd needed.

Wiggling her fingers along the cotton of her shorts she could feel herself dampening more at the thought of doing something she shouldn't be, it excited her more and more. She rolled onto her back and pictured Ron continuing to trace down her body with his lips and his tongue leaving small wet trails wherever he touched, as he had done many times before. she imagined his hands all over her, leaving no part of her untouched and the soft touch of his lips moving further and further down her tummy to her hips and, eventually remembering the amazing feeling she would get when his head would disappear between her legs. The thoughts were driving Hermione wild and she couldn't contain herself, she slid her hand beneath her shorts and pants and began to play with herself, softly moaning as she did so and thinking fondly of Ron and his oral skills. She could feel herself building up a climax and clamped her eyes.She could feel herself getting closer to the top. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and saw the man she always craved with his ginger head between her legs.

“oh, yes” she moaned, her body began to shake, she was so close now. She saw Ron move his hands up and down her thighs, the image so clear she could almost feel it. Suddenly the ginger boy lifted his head up and stared directly into her eyes...except that the hair wasn't ginger anymore. The grin wasn't warm and welcoming but rather mischievous and evil. As she reached her climax she screamed picturing Draco Malfoy watching her, and it didn't stop there, she pictured Astrid stood behind him, then came a quiet, high pitched voice

“I told you he liked you” Astrid smiled 

“in your dreams, filthy mudblood” her imagination’s version of draco sneered, every bit as cold and nasty as he sounded in the flesh. And true to his word, Hermione woke with a start. 

  Hermione sat up straight in her bed, sweating, what felt like, buckets. She had been dreaming. ‘In your dreams, mudblood’ her stomach turned at the memory of the cold, sickening words. How could he have slipped into her mind like that? She brought the back of her hand up to wipe the sweat away from her forehead. She felt his stone grey eyes still on her, scarred in her imagination. She felt extremely uncomfortable, itchy in her own skin. She looked into the blue, cloudless sky and guessed that there had been a lot more to the dream than she remembered, as it was morning time and she could see Madam Hooch taking out first years for flying lessons. At least she didn't have as many lessons as she used to. She smiled, remembering her bag splitting in her third year, due to over stuffing it with books for her far-too-full class schedule.

  At the thought of books, her eyes immediately darted to her desk, where her diary lay, atop all her other books where she'd left it the night before. Hermione toyed with the idea of a morning chat to get her night are out of her system, but then she remembered another detail about her dream. She had heard Astrid's voice. But how was that possible? She died years ago. There was no possible way for Hermione to know that was Astrid who spoke to her in her dream, yet she knew it was, with no shadow of a doubt.

  After chalking it up to too many late night chats and lack of communication with other people, she decided she was getting to obsessed with the diary and remembered the trauma Ginny Weasley had suffered when she came to Hogwarts with Tom Riddle’s diary stowed away in her trunk. Maybe her year would have been easier if Molly Weasley had allowed her daughter back, but she could understand her anxieties and couldn't hold her responsible. At least she has Astrid, but she couldn't think that way anymore. She dressed herself in a loose black dress from one of the old wardrobes and tightened her red and gold tie, then decided to go to the great Hall for some breakfast. 

  With a backward glance at the shimmering book on her desk, she exited her dormitory and dropped down the steps, two at a time and hurried along through the empty common room. 

  She climbed through the portrait hole and swung it shut behind her, and had she been in a little more of a rush, she would have missed the great big pile of books that were next to the painting of the Fat Lady. At a closer glance, Hermione gasped, she realised they were her books, the ones she had left by the tree near the lake after her outburst at draco. There was a small piece of parchment, folded down the middle so that it stood freely. On the parchment was just one word, in deep black ink that glided along in thick swoops ‘Sorry’ it said.

Hermione just stood there astounded


	3. What Would Astrid Do?

##  Chapter Three  
What Would Astrid Do? 

 

“Sorry?” Hermione repeated, out loud to herself. She picked up the parchment and ran her thumb over the small word. “what the hell?” she didn't know how to react. This had to be a joke. And if it was, it wasn't funny. He had never said sorry to her. He made her life utterly unbearable over her time at Hogwarts, and she had never once seen him apologize to her, or anybody else. So it had to be some sort of sick joke of his.

  Feeling enraged that he’d actually gone to the effort of transporting the very heavy books from the black lake to the Gryffindor common room just to spite her. She didn't understand the punchline. But she did understand what had to be done. Extended term students (students from the year before who had come to finish their education) had free lessons all Friday every Friday, so she knew exactly where he would be. She would take the note directly to the Writer and demand some answers.

  She folded the parchment twice and slipped it into her pocket. Hermione considered taking the books up to her dorm for a minute, but thought that nobody would mind if she just left them there for now. She paced through the old corridors as quickly as she could, heading for the dungeons, and it wasn't until she reached her old potions class, that she realized she had no idea where the Slytherin common room was actually located. She slowed her pace and came to a stop.

“Shit, now what” she cussed. She looked around at the dimly lit, grey-stone walls and huffed. Blood boiling and head spinning, she turned on the spot. She could smell the familiar smell of potions gone wrong coming from one of the classrooms and made a quick decision to get out of there quick and finally get some breakfast. She would have to deal with Malfoy later. ‘this is what happens when you don't think things through’ she thought ‘no plan, no success’.

  She started walking back the way she came and heard a cluster of people from behind her. Walking slowly, she turned her head to see who was there. A group of Slytherin girls, possibly third or fourth years, had just emerged, seemingly, out of nowhere. She rolled her eyes and focused back on the floor in front of her, watching her own feet with every step she took, feeling a great sense of disappointment. 

“Stupid hidden common room” she muttered quietly to herself. 

“What?!” she heard a sharp, nasty female voice call her out from behind. The voice was almost recognizable. And when she turned to see who it was, her heart sank. It was indeed a group of Slytherin fourth year girls, but in center of them all, there she was, Pansy Parkinson. She was easy to mistake for a younger girl, being so short and small.

“I wasn't talking to  _ you _ , mind your own business, Parkinson” Hermione sneered back,watching the young girls’ heads turn quickly to see how Pansy was going to respond. 

“fuck off back to muggle London, bitch, your stinking up our dungeons” Pansy said, pausing to give her new found friends a chance to laugh at her insult before adding “and that's saying something with these first years sloshing shit around in their cauldrons” she raised her thumb to gesture towards the classroom that both girls had shared during their first few years at the school, prompting Hermione to remember every nasty comment she'd sneered as she walked past her desk, or every time she'd kick her table, causing her potion to splash all over her. Hermione swallowed her hate and decided to take a different approach. ‘what would Astrid do?’ she asked herself. She looked the short, brunette girl dead in the eye and said

“Oh, I'll fuck off” smirking and feeling running the note in her pocket between her fingers, she continued on. “But first I need to see Draco” she said, and even though calling him by his first name made her feel uneasy, it was worth the extra zing to see Pansy’s face drop “he left me a note last night, so I just need a quick word with your  _ boyfriend, _ you know…before I fuck off” Pansy’s face turned evil with rage. Hermione had struck the nerve she was looking for and willed Pansy to hit her. She would love to unleash some of her built-up anger out on her face.

  Pansy stood speechless, so one of her followers piped up for her.

“you're such a liar” said a girl with a blonde ponytail, who was taller than Pansy, like most people were. 

“yeah!” said a raven haired girl “he was with Pansy all night in the common room” she said, fiddling with the white pearl necklace she was wearing around her neck and looking Hermione up and down with a nasty glare in her eye. 

“I'm not  _ denying _ that” Hermione laughed and pulled the note out of her pocket and displayed it for all of the girls to see. “But the fact of the matter is, at some point, he came to me” she smiled. Pansy lunged forward to snatch the note from Hermione's hand, but she moved quickly out of her way, letting her stumble on the spot where Hermione had been stood a second ago.

“Not so fast” Hermione laughed, taunting her rival, and putting the note safely back in her pocket. Pansy’s flushed the colour red and instead of straightening up, her hand flew at Hermione's face. She slapped her with such force, the connection echoed through the dungeon corridor, her lime green, pointed nails leaving a cat-like scratch on the left side of her face.

  Hermione brought her hand up to her scorching cheek. She quickly rubbed the bright red mark Pansy had left on her face and reached into her pocket to grab her wand. Except it wasn’t there. ‘Oh shit’ thought Hermione. She pictured the wand on her bedside table where she’d left it the night before, she had been so distracted by her dream this morning that she’d completely forgotten to pick it up, this was very out of character for her. Pansy, meanwhile, had her wand at the ready and was pointing it at Hermione. 

“Cruci-” Hermione snatched the wand from pansy’s tight grip, cutting her spell short, then threw it out of sight.. The memory of Bellatrix Lestrange’s torture the year before, mixed with the adrenaline of Pansy actually hitting her had made her quick on the draw.

“Fuck off” Hermione growled nastily. She gained on Pansy , if she wanted a fight, Hermione was making sure it was a fair one. She swiped her hand across her face the same way Pansy had (although not as sharp sounding) taking her by surprise and spinning her face from one side to the other. She tangled her fingers into the small girls hair and used it to throw her against the wall, where she hit her head hard.

  Pansy’s short ponytail had come loose and her face was glowing red and her dark eyes filled with fury. Hermione lunged at her, but this time, Pansy flew under her arm, leaving Hermione to fall and stumble towards the wall.Pansy bought her arm up to push Hermione against the wall face first. She lifted herself up onto her tiptoes and brought her lips to Hermione’s ear.

“You might have won the war, Granger” she sneered “but that does  _ not  _ give you the right to come to our common room causing trouble!” Hermione felt her remove her arm and then felt her sharply pull her hair back, she barely had time to wince before Pansy forced her face into the cold dungeon wall “Blood supremacy may no longer be a thing, congratulations!” she said pulling her hair back and throwing her stumbling into the middle of the corridor. “But muggle parents or not, you clearly have bad blood... _ filthy blood _ ” she snarled. Hermione swayed slightly, still seeing bright spots from the blow to the head, but she refused to break eye contact with Pansy. “I mean look at her girls, she’s fucking foaming at the mouth” Hermione heard Pansy’s small gang laugh “Go back to the library, spew-girl” she cackled at her own joke and Hermione lunged again and pushed Pansy flying backwards into her crowd of followers. She gripped onto the front of Pansy’s blouse and as she was about to bring her fist up to land her first punch. Her concentration was broken by the sight of something over Pansy’s shoulder. There  _ he _ was. She saw Draco Malfoy come into her field of vision and lock onto her eyes from across the corridor and was instantly transported to the night before, memories flashing in an instant.  _ ‘In your dreams, Mudblood’.  _

  Hermione felt her stomach tighten and she cringed at the memory. Losing concentration, she dropped Pansy’s robes, allowing her to push Hermione backwards. She felt her ankle twist and fell onto the cold floor. She squeezed her eyes shut in preparation for the punch she saw Pansy bracing herself to throw, but it never came. 

“What’s all this?!” came a cool but sharp voice Hermione would recognize anywhere, for all the wrong reasons. She shyly popped one eyelid open to see that Draco had come over and was holding back the fist Pansy had clenched. “We can hear you in the common room” he said, glaring down at Pansy “and if he can hear you, the potions class can definitely hear you” she saw Pansy visibly pout but drop her hand back to her side. Her friends stood quietly on the sidelines, staring at Draco in adoration. The raven haired girl even fluttering her eyelashes in his direction.

He looked away from Pansy and let his eyes rest on Hermione now. And he smirked, that same sickly smirk that made her guts churn. Or was it butterflies? ‘It’s definitely my guts churning’ she thought to herself, opening her eyes to look at him properly. He knew she had come here about the note. But was he going to admit it in from of his guard dog.

“What?!” Hermione snapped, realizing she was still laying on the floor. She stood herself up on a painful ankle and folded her arms.

“What’s gotten into you lately,  _ Granger _ ?” he asked “you’re causing trouble all over the school now, are you?”

“It was  _ your girlfriend  _ who started throwing hands” Hermione spat at him, forcing herself to think of anything other than sitting on his face. She could no longer keep eye contact with him and instead, looked down at her dress, which she quickly realized was soaked with blood. She pulled her hand up to her nose, which was painful to touch, and felt it completely dripping with blood too. she softly sniffed and looked around the corridor.

“She probably did” he said accusingly “lets go” he said, steering her in the direction they all had originally come from. The girls followed quickly behind. Something caught Hermione’s eye at the edge of the corridor. It was Pansy’s wand. She quickly picked it up and threw it at the back of her retreating head. Pansy’s reaction was to dart back towards her, but Draco pulled her back and kept her walking forward. Hermione swore she saw him catch her eye and chuckle as the tall blonde friend crouched to retrieve the wand. Draco whisked the girls out of sight and left Hermione stood alone once again. 

 Hermione didn't much feel like walking back through the castle with her face looking the way it did, and one way or another she had to check the damage of the fight, so she limped on a twisted ankle to the closest girls bathroom. 

  The summer sun shone through the green stained-glass windows of the girls toilets and Hermione was pleased to see every stall open and unoccupied. She dragged herself in front of the mirror and gazed into her own golden-brown eyes. She would give anything be staring into Ronald's eyes instead and feel his strong arms around her. She wished it so much she could almost hear his voice in her ear, softly mocking her for such an over reaction to a note. Hermione studied her appearance in the dusty mirror. Her hair was wild, with brown ringlets spiraling in all directions. Her eyes, which were bloodshot undoubtedly from Pansy smashing her face into the dungeon wall, were starting to get dark circles beneath them already. Her face plant had also caused many blood vessels in the bridge of her nose to pop and as a result, the lower half of her face was smothered in blood. There were three distinct scratches across her left cheek that were going red and purple, but still not as bad as her sunken eyes. Hermione, in her opinion, looked like a ravenous vampire. She put her hands on the edge of the sink below the mirror and leaned in closer to get a better look at her nose. It seemed in the same shape it was before the fight, and it had stopped bleeding now, so at least it didn’t seem to be broken. Hermione squinted her eyes shut and turned the cold tap head to run the water. She scooped it up with her hands and splashed it over her chin and nose. She winced at the shock of the cold water, but rubbed her face faster and faster in an attempt to clean her face. She was cursing herself for forgetting her wand. Not once, in her whole time at hogwarts, had she ever forgotten to pick up her wand in the morning. Her head was not in the right place at all. She checked the mirror again, and looked a lot more like Hermione than she had before. Blood washed of and eye’s soothed from the coolness of the water, she realised how hungry she was. Hermione straightened herself up, brushed herself off and exited the bathroom.

  Heading up to the Gryffindor tower to retrieve her wand, before she got herself into any more trouble, she thought longingly of warm crunchy toast, still warm with melting butter, and a soothing orange juice to wash it down. Passing a giant window overlooking the grounds along her way, she was glad to see the sun shining high in the cloudless sky, she would study outside again today, in a more secluded area, so’s not to be disturbed again. Finally reaching the Fat Lady, she sighed heavily to see the large stack of books again. There was no way she was up for moving them with no magic, and she was even less likely to ask someone for help. She walked straight passed them, deciding to retrieve them when she had her wand to charm them into being lighter, and stepped in front of the portrait hole.   
“Password?” the Fat Lady requested.

“Toadstools” Hermione muttered. The enchanted painting swung forward, allowing hermione to climb through, stroll across the empty, sunlit common room, and up the stairs to her dormitory. 

  Hermione removed draco’s note from her dress pocket and put it on her bedside table next to her wand, which she glared at. If she’d had her wand, Pansy Parkinson would have been in the hospital wing in two minutes flat, no fight necessary. She looked down at her blood soaked dress and groaned. Changing  her uniform quickly and specifically checking for her wand in the pocket of her robes,  _ twice _ , she swung her bag, filled with ink, quills and parchment,over her shoulder and was about to leave the room when she saw the sun catch something shiny on her desk. Hermione stared at the pretty silver and grey diary for no longer than a moment or two before deciding to pick it up and take it with her to breakfast. ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ she thought to herself, she was in the mood to rant, and Astrid was always prepared to listen...or read, how ever it worked on her side of the table. She scooped up the diary and slipped it into her bag, then exited the the dorm to head for the great hall.

  She smell of good food was inviting, but the crowd was not, she knew she’d be confronted with questions about the scratches on her face, and she decided she would rather let Pansy and her gang spread her venomous version of what happened around the school, what did she care what people thought of her anyway? She grabbed herself a napkin and two slices of toast and retreated quickly out of the hall. She left the building and started off down the castle grounds to the lake, taking bites of her breakfast as she walked.

  Hermione spotted a small area right next to the lake that was very tucked away, had she not been specifically looking for somewhere private, she would have guessed it was just the edge of the forbidden forest, but it was in fact a tiny green clearing, with plenty of sun blazing down on it, and the lake running right through it, but still hidden from plain sight. She smiled as she sat herself down, crossing her legs, and took the Astrid’s diary out of her bag. Hermione rested it on her legs and flicked it open. She looked up, watching the colour of the green leaves contrast against the deep blue sky. She breathed in heavily from her nose, taking in the beautiful smell of nature. She felt a lot more relaxed as she let the sun warm her face, the smell of the grass and salty water comforting her. She pulled a quill and the blue ink out of her bag and placed it behind her to lean on. She dipped her quill into the ink and began to write.

“Hello Astrid” she wrote, finishing off her toast, and stuffing the napkin into her robe pockets.

“Hi girl” came Astrid’s response “where have you been?”   
“Sorry, I’ve had a strange day” she wrote back.   
“Oh, do tell me about it?”   
“Well it started last night really” she explained “I had a dream about Malfoy”   
“Oh? What happened in this dream?” Hermione scowled at the memory she didn’t feel like reliving.

“It’s not important, the weird part was that you were there” she wrote.

“Me?”   
“Yes, when we first contacted each other, i looked you up in the library student records, it was you, im sure of it” Hermione hoped Avery wasn’t mad at Hermione for stalking her records, but nothing of the sort was mentioned when she responded

“Well, that’s normal silly, if i could dream...and if i knew what you looked like, I’m sure you’d pop into my dreams too, Hermione” Astrid comforted “what was I doing in this dream?”

“You told me that Malfoy liked me again” Hermione cringed at the memory again.

“See, that makes sense, it was the last thing we spoke about before you went to sleep, it’s fresh in the brain”   
“But it doesn’t make sense” Hermione responded to the silver hand writing in her own blue quill strokes “I may have looked you up, but i don’t know what you sound like, Astrid, there’s no way for me to know what you sound like” she waited for her friend to reply, but she heard a rustle coming from the direction of the two trees she’d entered through. She glared for a minute, praying it was just an animal. But sadly for Hermione, no such luck. Draco Malfoy came slipping through the trees and Hermione’s face dropped.

“So i finally caught up to you” he said “I’ve been following you since the great hall”


	4. 'I May Need Your Help'

## Chapter 4  
‘I May Need Your Help’

 

  She sat watching him weave himself through the trunks until he was safely into the clearing. He approached her slowly.

“Not going to hit me again are you, Granger?” he asked mockingly, giving her another unnecessary reminder of why she hated him.

“Not unless you piss me off, _Malfoy_ ” she arched her brow and silently willed him to try her patience today. She put her palm flat on the ground behind her and slouched back. Astrid Avery’s diary dipped, forgotten, into the middle of her crossed legs. If he made the effort to follow her out and invade her privacy, she would remain civil for as long as she could, and give him her full attention. “Can I help you?” she proceeded, cocking her head to one side. He stood for a while, looking as though he was deciding to sit or stand. His choice was made obvious when he walked a small pace and sat by the lake edge, a small distance from Hermione. He brought his face up to meet her bored looking gaze. He sighed heavily.

“I saw you come into the hall, I was going to come to talk to you there, but I saw you leave and…”

“You decided to follow me” she cut over him “Stalker much?” she laughed.

“It's not like that” he defended himself sharply, his face flushing.

“It’s definitely like that” she pressed “dragging a boatload of books to one of the schools tallest towers, in the middle of the night while your girlfriend’s asleep, leaving notes” she said accusingly, gazing him up and down, reminding herself that this was the real life, disgusting Draco Malfoy, the boy who had made her and her only friends lives hell for over six years. She wrinkled her nose at the  sad memories and sniffed painfully. “Sorry” she recited the word from the parchment he had left as clearly as she had the first time she’d seen it “Sorry for… What? Just yesterday? Or the years of torture I've endured from you” She watched him roll his eyes at her dramatic tone and fought her mind hard to keep her tongue civil.

“I Just...sorry” He looked out at the lake, watching small bubbles pop and disperse on the smooth, glassy surface.

“It's not enough” she said after some time waiting to see if he would meet her eyes again. He did not.

“You think I don't know that?!” he snapped “That's why I carried your books back to you too” he added. Hermione let out an amused splutter of disgust.

“you really are scum, if this is a genuine apology, its shit” she said, without hesitation. He pulled his face back to look into her eyes.

“It is!” He snarled. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose, he continued calmly “I was raised a certain way, _Hermione,_ my parents… My father…I'm from a different kind of family, and I _don't_ mean that in _any_ sort of offencive way to your muggle heritage” he said, watching her reactions carefully. “I just mean, for the longest time, I've been following my father's path, who followed his father's path, and so on and so fourt, for decades now” he said, clearly giving his speech some deep thought “yesterday, you, you snapped it out of me, reminded me that I was on a path that was no longer going anywhere, dark arts are at an all time low and the war showed us all it’s time for a change, I'm the first one, the first Malfoy with no path to follow, I can see that now” he looked into her eyes and on some level, she felt like she could understand what he was trying to say “Look” He said, gathering himself “I was sitting in the common room last night, and it hit me, I've burned all these bridges in my life, my school life, which should have been off limits to each and every death eater, all because I had the security of my father's ways… now my father's ways mean nothing” He dropped his elbows back to the ground behind him and leaned back, propping himself up. “I thought” he continued “That you, the person who’d suffered my abusive ways worse than anybody else at the school, deserved to be the first to receive an apology” Hermione snorted, this was too much for her.

“So you're going to apologise to every single person at the school are you malfoy? She sneered.

“Only the ones who I think deserve it” there was something in his tone that seemed cautiously believable and sincere. She slightly dipped her head to knowingly nod at him. They broke eye contact at the same time and both gazed out at the beautiful open display of the sunlit lake.

  As much as Hermione hated to admit it, this particular situation he was describing reminded her a lot of the time she had received her Hogwarts letter. The way she had her whole life mapped out in front of her, and then just like that, she was on a (quite literal) different train track in life. The two shared a slightly uncomfortable silence. She turned to look at him, and take in his appearance. Her imagination must have been slightly off, because the person in front of her now, sat leering sulkily out into the stretch of water in front of them with the weight of the world on his shoulders, actually looked incredibly handsome, and not so evil looking at all.

  As though seeing him in a different light, she studied him, his sharp jawline carving the edge of his beautiful face, his eyes, though she remembered them stormy grey and gazing daggers at her from her crotch,were a deep shade of blue. He looked a lot more inviting than she had ever seen in her life. His manner seemed, almost warm. _Almost._ She hadn't completely let her guard down, she would give this new Draco a chance, nobody she cared enough for was around to judge her anyway.

  Hermione continued to trace his outline with her eyes, admiring an obvious sign of beauty she had missed all these years.

“So” he said, catching her eyes flicking up and down his body “what are you reading this time” he said “Didn't interrupt anything too important did I? ” She blinked, suddenly remembering Astrid's Diary in her lap. She closed it shut, ignoring the large silver scrawl flying across the page, and put it back in her bag.

“Not really” she said, her tone very natural. “Just reviewing notes” she said “you really should have kept those books” she said, changing the subject and piling the quill and ink into her bag “if you _really_ want to turn over a new leaf, why not do it on a fresh set of outstanding N.E.W.T’s?” she said, in traditional Hermione fashion. She saw a familiar smirk come across his face, only this time, for once it didn't fill her with dread.

“I should have expected _you_ of all people to say something like that” he said, rolling his eyes, reminding her of Ron. He was right. Everything came back to knowledge with Hermione. She laughed at her own predictableness, and it brought a painful reminder to her that her nose was still not ready to force out a real snort yet. She stopped laughing immediately and brought her hand up to sooth the bridge of her sore nose, wincing. Remembering who she was with, she brought her hand away quickly and kept her face looking as natural as she could without it hurting. Draco could she she was in pain.

“I'm sorry” He said, repeating his own note, but now for a new reason

“It's not like _you_ slammed my face into the wall” she said, curling her lip nastily at the reminder of her encounter with Pansy Parkinson this morning.

“No, but you were there looking for me, believe me when I say, Pansy gave me an earful about it” He grimaced as he spoke. “She said you were...oh what was it… _‘waving my note in her face like it was the triwizard cup’_ I think she said” grinning cockily. Hermione felt her cheeks redden and blood rush to the small scars on her cheek. She ignored the stinging pain

“It’s not what you think...It was the quickest way to shut her up” She defended herself quickly “it didn't go down the way I expected it to though” she said grinning at the memory of Pansy scrambling for the note like a rabid dog.

“Clearly” they shared a laugh. For the first time in history, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy shared a laugh.

“...Why do you string her along like that, Draco?” she asked, as the laughter quietened.  
“What do you mean?” He said, looking back out into the distance beyond the lake.

“You know full bloody well what i mean” She grinned. “I don’t even like you and i can tell you’re not all that interested in her”

“Well it sounds bad now” He said, not looking at her “But well, one of the main reasons i was interested in her was the fact that she’s...well, you know?”   
“No?” She replied, confused.

“She's… Well, she's a pureblood” He said awkwardly, not looking back. “It’s how It’s always been, pureblood had to be protected…”

Hermione flicked her eyebrows up at Draco's typical response.

“Of course” she rolled her eyes “And now?”

“Well…I suppose I haven't really thought about it”

“Do you _really_ see yourself marrying her one day though?” She asked, in her traditional nosey tone.

“ _maybe_ ” he said, looking back at Hermione “maybe, yeah…what about you?” he questioned “Do you see _yourself_ becoming another Weasley” He grinned, and Hermione laughed

“I suppose” she said “Maybe one day…”

“I don't think you're ginger enough to become another Weasley” Draco laughed. Hermione smiled, and thought of her best friend longingly.

“We never really talked about it” she said “It happened in during the battle of Hogwarts…then it _happened_ again at the Burrow...and it just happened and happened again...” she giggled “But not once did we actually talk about being together…but that's ok” she said quickly “We're still young, and I am in no rush to get married” she laughed, internally, thinking about the last wedding she had attended. It had been Bill and Fleur Weasley’s big day, and it was, in fact, a very beautiful day, right up until the Death Eaters intruded,ruining the festivities to say the least.

Hermione cast a look over at her unlikely new friend. She was surprised that a flash in her mind caused her to picture him standing in front of her, wearing a soft, dark emerald tuxedo, his white blonde hair matching the single white rose he held in his outstretched arm, offering it to... _her?_ ‘Oh dear’ Hermione thought ‘ _Stop_ talking about weddings’ she urged herself, internally.

“I suppose you're right, there is nothing but time now that the Dark Lord is gone” Draco agreed, distracting Hermione from her own mind’s eye. “Anything can happen in a year” the pair shared a silence. She was eager to move the conversation along, or end it, one or the other.

“That’s right” she said “You may get some decent grades this year” she sneered, playfully.

“Yeah, maybe” Draco replied again “I daresay i may need your help Granger, you have never had a problem with that sort of thing” He peered over to her, meeting her eyes. She smiled at him and nodded in his direction.He was now speaking Hermione’s language. School, she was good at, if nothing else. She thought of herself and Draco nestled in a corner of a library, sipping coffee and studying until the sun comes up, and the thought was funny all alone, such an unlikely pair, given their history.

“That must have been really hard for you to say” Hermione arched her brow.

“I can see why you’d think that” said Draco. “But i am actually finding it easier to talk to you now than i ever have”

“Because you’re being yourself, Draco” She responded “You’re not just being who they want you to be anymore, you’re thinking for yourself, about yourself”

“Well I’ve been thinking about you since last night actually” The pale blonde boy made Hermione’s eyes widen and blush, causing her to look away  
“Well, that’s wrong for a start” she said quickly “you should be thinking about your lessons, just because friday is a free day for higher students, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use this time to study” She was trying to change the subject. “If you’re serious about wanting me to help you, i will, I’m ahead in all my classes already”

“Naturally” Draco laughed.

“So, we could do one-on-one lessons if you would like, but I think the library is a bit...public, i like to study in private these days” She said

“I agree, i think we would attract too much attention at the library, it’s not like Pansy’s going to be happy with me spending all this time with another girl” He said, looking slightly uncomfortable “She thinks I’m out fine tuning my broom right now” He rolled his eyes

“You could always...not tell her” Hermione suggested. “It’s not like she would understand that you’re doing this to better yourself and your education, she would just see you spending time with another girl”

“So it would be our little secret?” He asked, raising one eyebrow craftily.

“ _No,_ Draco, no little secret, just keeping your priorities in order” Hermione responded, rolling her own eyes this time.”If she’s going to keep you from helping your education, which is the whole reason you came back to school, then there is no point in inviting that distraction to the table...especially if it’s going to upset her”

“I see” Draco said, clearly thinking over what Hermione had said.

“But there’s still the matter of where,,,” Hermione pondered, out loud.Draco looked over the top of the trees in the direction of the castle, then back out to the lake.

“What about right here?” He said thoughtfully “it’s quiet, private, and you looked very peaceful when i got here”

“I _was_ ” she said, accusingly. “But yes” Hermione looked around and took in the beautiful view “I think this will do nicely” She smiled “What do you say to meeting here every friday?” she asked.

“Works for me if it works for you” Draco shrugged and smiled. “Who’d have thought it?” he asked “A Lion and a Snake getting along”

“Who’d have thought it, a Malfoy and   _mudblood_ getting along” She retorted. She also noticed him wince at her word.

“Don’t” Draco dropped his head to look at his hands “You don’t have dirty blood Hermione, you never did, there’s no such thing”  He continued, awkwardly “There's just good and bad, and you are undoubtedly a good person, and I really am sorry…for everything” Hermione took his apology seriously this time.

“We shall see, if you're serious, I don't see why I can't forgive you, if this really is _the new you_ ” She replied “Time will tell, Malfoy, but if you fuck me over, and this turns into some elaborate prank to embarrass the muggleborn, I'll never forgive that, and furthermore, it won't work, I'm so past caring what you all think of me”

“By ‘ _you all’_ you mean-?”

“I mean the whole school… But yes, the Slytherin's in particular” Hermione said, making Draco laugh.

“Clearly, from what I saw in the dungeons this morning” He responded “Why on earth would you pick a fight with one of the roughest girls in the school” He continued, Hermione snorted “Seriously, she can be an animal, I've seen her fight without magic before”

“I could take her” Hermione laughed

“Yeah, course you can” He teased “That's why she floored you” he laughed “I know you're strong, and you've been through some serious shit that's only made you stronger, but I really wouldn't step on her toes”

“I'll step on her face instead” Hermione said. She was annoyed that after proving herself all through the war, he clearly thought she wasn't capable of defending herself “I took on your psychotic Aunt Bella, she was far worse than Pansy” She reminded him.

“It's not that I think you can't take her, Hermione, I just know she can get really nasty, today you have a scratched cheek and a busted nose, but next time you might have your hair transfigured into snakes, or worse, she could charm your hair away completely, she can be really horrid if you catch her in the wrong mood is all”

“I appreciate the concern, but I can look after myself, thank you very much” She said, sharply. Draco and Hermione sat quietly for a minute to let the tension pass.

“So when you say every Friday? Did you mean today?” Draco asked, eventually breaking the silence. Hermione stood up and brushed herself down with her hands to remove the grass that had gotten on her maroon skirt.

“No no, you take the day, spend it with Pansy” She insisted. Draco looked slightly disappointed. “We’ll start next week, bring your books and your Quill’s here after breakfast, and we will work out which subjects you need the most help in” Hermione picked her bag up and swung it over her shoulder. “If there’s any books you don’t have that you think you’ll need, just drop me a note somehow and I will see if I have them”  she said, turning to face Draco “I'm going to head inside now, I'll see you then” she gave him a smile before turning around and walking back through the trees.

“Oh, and I thought we were having a nice time” she heard him shout back, but she didn't reply, she just kept on walking.


End file.
